(crossposted on five before chaos) 

Busy day today, so unfortunately I can't spend a bit more on this, but I was reading this article on CNN this morning that the Dept. of Transportation's latest figures have shown the steepest decline in driving in March since records were recorded:

This is good news.  Now, I know, finding the silver lining in higher gas prices is not a popular notion in mainstream America. But aside from the obvious environmental benefit, there's something much deeper at work here, possibly a reorganization of American society.

Much of the hardship in America due to these prices is unmistakably due to one simple, “duh, obvious” fact: we've designed our entire society around the combustion engine, whether it be the way we live, the way our food is distributed, you name it.  It's really a lack of long-term vision, something Americans in general have never had as a strong point. And I predict that $5 a gallon gas is going to make that obvious to even the most clueless, when people who live in tract-housing planned communities really start to realize that they do really live in the middle of nowhere.  They have to drive to go everywhere, to do anything.

Now, I live 5 miles up a dirt road on a tiny mountain-hill thing. But I can still bike to numerous farms and such in town and get my food. Work will present a problem should I change jobs, as I work from home – but another positive with the gas prices is that I think we're going to start to see a huge influx in telecommuting jobs. There are a lot of office jobs in this country that really don't need to be in the office.

Some other plusses: I think developers (and potential homebuyers) might rethink the current patterns of development in this country – the cookie-cutter houses out in a former field, with all of the amenities available that can only be driven to. Perhaps a revitalization of downtowns on an epic scale is in the works, who knows?

Another plus – perhaps there won't be so much  plastic produced anymore. Granted, transporting glass requires more energy, but if distribution networks get smaller, that won't be as much of an issue, either.

Now, I know it's easy to accuse me of ignoring the many hardships that these gas prices will involve (and I'm not even going to go into the concept that in terms of true cost, such as the dead soldiers and environmental factors , $7 a gallon gas is still a bargain). Any major paradigm shift is never painless. Some people will hurt more than others, and a few are going to be okay or perhaps even at an advantage because of the lifestyles they have chosen. And, yes, unfortunately, like everything else, the poor will be hit much harder than the rich. So it's going to be shitty.

But it's inevitable, and it's going to happen. We can't drill our way out of this mess, as much as many would like to. That's just more short-sightedness. Whatever we do, it's going to take some extremely forward-thinking, courageous leadership (not too common in the U.S.). I remember when Bush the first went to some enviro summit in South America years ago and gave the asinine line along the lines of “The American lifestyle is not negotiable.”  Well, it's going to have to be, we're not going to have much say in the matter, shortly. That kind of arrogant behavior is what got us in this mess to begin with. It's not going to be pretty, especially when we have a huge portion of the population that doesn't even think about the impact their lifestyle of perpetual convenience has on the planet and society at large. It's something to both dread (short-term) and highly anticipate.

Once again, it's easy for me to be casual about this, living in the bubble of Vermont. But I'm well aware of how bad things can and possibly will get for everyone, and I don't dismiss that casually. I'm certainly not coming at if from a “that'll show 'em” mindset (although I feel zero sympathy for the guy that commutes to his office job in his Ford Excursion – that's just plain dumb). I think we will make it through this, difficult as it may be, and what comes out on the other end will be something completely different, and ultimately we will be better off because of it. 

This is my final post on last Saturday’s State Democratic Convention. What follows is a video scrapbook of people and moments from the day – all of challenging sound quality, so depending on your computer, it may be problematic for you to make anything out. In any event, if you were there and I pointed a camera at you, chances are you’re somewhere in the 9 minutes, 2 seconds below…

Special remembrances on this Memorial Day to Vermont servicepeople killed in combat in Iraq. Vermont remains the state with the highest per capita casualty rate.

Bennington- Halvorsen, Erik Anders, Chief Warrant Officer (CW4), 02-Apr-2003

Brattleboro- Gilbert, Kyle C, Private, 06-Aug-2003

Bridport- Bean Jr., Alan N., Sergeant, 25-May-2004

Burlington- Evnin, Mark Asher, Corporal, 03-Apr-2003

East Barre- Normandy, William J., Sergeant, 14-Mar-2004

Hardwick- McLaughlin, Scott P., Sergeant , 22-Sep-2005

Hardwick- Merchant, Christopher S., Specialist, 01-Mar-2006

Hartford/White River Jct- Holmes, Jeffery Scott, Lance Corporal, 25-Nov-2004

Irasburg- Strong, Jesse W., Sergeant, 26-Jan-2005

Jay- Bangayan, Solomon C. “Kelly”, Specialist, 02-Jan-2004

Milton- Sheehan, Kevin F., Sergeant , 25-May-2004

Montpelier- Gray, Jamie A., Sergeant, 07-Jun-2004

Proctor- Chapin, Chris S., Master Sergeant, 23-Aug-2005

Richford- Johnson, Joshua Allen, Sergeant , 25-Jan-2006

South Royalton- Clark, Carlton A., Sergeant, 06-Aug-2006

Springfield- Dechen, Kurt Edward, Lance Corporal, 03-Aug-2006

Starksboro- Piche, Pierre E., Captain , 15-Nov-2003

Stowe- Procopio, Mark J., 2nd Lieutenant, 02-Nov-2005

Underhill- Muller, Adam J., Private,  1st Class 05-Nov-2007

List via icasualties.

Green Party regular and perennial candidate Craig Hill has been making the rounds in recent years talking up 9/11 conspiracy theories to Vermonters far and wide. This year, however, he’s decided to take his frustrations with Peter Welch straight into the Democratic Primary, and to that end, he was (bravely) collecting signatures outside the VDP Convention on Saturday. I thought it only fair to step outside and give him a chance to be heard. He’s articulate (though he could stand to tighten it up), and it’s rather interesting to hear (in the last minute or so) his reasoning for running this time as a Democrat – its basically the same thing many Dems are saying to Anthony Pollina.

Huffington Post writer Wiliam Bradley picks up the other half of Clinton's recent gaffe regarding the 1992 and 1968 primaries and her assertion that both of these ran into mid-June.

Of course, the immediate focus has been on the offensive-to-many RFK reference.  Today, however, Bradley's piece, The OTHER Big Problem With Hillary's Notorious Remarks, was like a breath of fresh air reminding us about Clinton's bold error regarding her husband's 1992 primary.

But as the New York Times pointed out yesterday, Bill Clinton was the presumptive nominee as early as late March.  If the deal need to be sealed even further, he closed it during the New York primary in early April.  That's at least 2 months earlier than Senator Clinton is claiming. Frankl, if she wants to make the case that, “It's not over 'til it's over,” then she can point to every primary in history when the delegates cast their ballots at the convention.

From NY Times on May 24:

Mrs. Clinton has cited her husband's 1992 nominating battle in discussing her decision to stay in the race. While she said that he only wrapped up the nomination in June of that year, he was viewed as having secured it in March, when his last serious opponent dropped out.

In his piece, Bradley speaks mostly on the subject of the California primary and Jerry Brown. But it's nice to see an emerging reality check on Clinton's revisionist history regarding the 1992 primary rising to the surface in the wake of the emotionally charged coverage of the RFK comment.

The link, Bradley's opening paragraph bio below the fold. 

The OTHER Big Problem With Hillary's Notorious Remarks

William Bradley; Huffington Post; May 25, 2008. 

Hillary Clinton: “My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it.”

What a remarkably wrong-headed paragraph. The formerly inevitable Clinton got into obvious trouble for her assassination comment. (And is now trying desperately to spin her way out. Lotsa luck.) But the sentence before it is totally wrong as well, as I can tell you that the Clintons knew that they would have no trouble in the 1992 California primary.

In May 1992, I passed on a message to Bill Clinton's national campaign chairman, Los Angeles attorney Mickey Kantor, who later held two Cabinet posts in the Clinton Administration. The message? That Jerry Brown, the former California governor who emerged as Clinton's most persistent opponent, would run no TV ads in the California primary and would pull back from the sharp attacks he'd been leveling on the frontrunner.

The primary was not “in the middle of June,” as Hillary said in the first part of her gross misstatement about it. It was on the first Tuesday in June, as it had been for decades to that point, on June 2nd. Clinton was way ahead in the race. There was no suspense about him getting the nomination. And Brown's decision not to run TV ads in California — he had plenty of money for that — and to refrain from the harsh attacks that had marked his campaign to that point made it very clear that the fight was over.

William Bradley bio:

William Bradley is an award-winning columnist and former political advisor. His NewWestNotes.com is the California leader in real-time political analysis. Bradley has been a senior advisor in several presidential and gubernatorial campaigns, co-founded a newspaper in California's state capital, dabbles as a Hollywood consultant and producer, and has written for a score of major national and international publications. A Berkeley grad and Navy vet, he is a USC senior fellow and a national political analyst and host on XM Satellite Radio.

Former DNC Chair Joe Andrew famously switched from supporting Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama in the Presidential primary. No small deal for a Bill Clinton-era Democratic chief. At the time, he wrote at HuffPo:

The old players of the old political game will claim that I am betraying my old friend Senator Evan Bayh by switching my support to Senator Obama.

Andrew was in town representing the Obama campaign at the Vermont Democratic Party convention in Brre, where he gave a rousing, no-nonsense speech, despite the fact that he followed Clinton-spokesperson Madeleine Kunin, who at times veered peculiarly between boilerplate positivity and unity-speak, and matters of, shall we say, greater contention (even eliciting a smattering of boos in a challenging reference to the Michigan and Florida delegations). Despite his convention counterpart, Andrew stayed on message, even during his own moment of being briefly interrupted by a Clinton supporter on the floor. I caught him for a minute afterwards and, pro that he is, he didn’t stray an inch from message…

“HOLY FIBEROUS FARMING BATMAN,” hollered the much too short shorted Robin, “THEY MIGHT GET TO GROW HEMP IN VERMONT!”

Well … no. Sorry, Robin my boy wonder, but this hemp bill being ballyhooed by the ever appreciated Rural Vermont as a great step forward will do no such thing.

And no … I’m not talking about whether or not Gov Douglas will veto it.

I’m talking about the bill … H.267 … now waiting the Guv’s signature … or not. READ IT, okay?

H.267 is nothing more than an enumeration of increased big government and big police powers. It has nothing to do with legalizing hemp at all. As a matter of fact it’s stated raison d’taire is

§ 561.  INTENT

    The intent of this act is to establish policy and procedures for growing industrial hemp in Vermont so that farmers and other businesses in the Vermont agricultural industry can take advantage of this market opportunity when federal regulations permit.

And policy and procedures it does establish: have to get a license from the state to grow hemp, can’t have a felony conviction to grow hemp, have to file fingerprints with the SoS, ” Ensuring that all parts of the industrial hemp plant that do not enter the stream of commerce as hemp products are destroyed, incorporated into the soil, or otherwise properly disposed of”.

This bill is not a step forward … it is a disaster.

All it does is continue the lie that marijuana is so dangerous we have to heavily restrict the growing of hemp! And makes us wait of the federal government … for permission … to grow hemp … that has the drug abuse potential of a toilet paper roll.

No, you’re not going to be growing hemp any time soon under this bill, and if/when that time comes to pass you’ll have to be registered with the state and watched with careful suspicion.

They say you never know the exact moment the tide changes….

Poor ticket sales, expected protests scuttle Bush-McCain fundraiser at Phoenix Convention Center

Phoenix Business Journal via TPM

A Tuesday fundraiser headlined by President Bush for U.S. Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign is being moved out of the Phoenix Convention Center.

Sources familiar with the situation said the Bush-McCain event was not selling enough tickets to fill the Convention Center space, and that there were concerns about more anti-war protesters showing up outside the venue than attending the fundraiser inside.

Bush’s Arizona fundraising effort for McCain is being moved to private residences in the Phoenix area.

Actually, scratch that last line from the previous diary. The least I can do is let you know who the first wave (making up the bulk) of pledged delegates the Vermont Democratic Party will be sending to the National Convention in Denver this August will be:

Obama delegates:

Rachel Weston

Carolyn Dwyer

Daria MonDesire

Arshad Hasan

Taylor Bates

Philip Baruth

Alternates: Michael Gaffney & Mary Sullivan

Clinton delegates:

Madeleine Kunin

Don Hooper

Michael Pieciak

Beth Robinson

Alternate: Nancy Richardson

What’s really fascinating is the average age of the Obama delegates, which is quite a bit lower than the crowd Vermont Dems usually send to these things. Philip is the old man of the bunch (and newcomer Taylor Bates is still in high school!)

I was told this story from 3 different people at the Democratic Convention today:

During three years in the low minors, John Odom never really made a name for himself.

That sure changed this week — he’s the guy who was traded for a bunch of bats.

“I don’t really care,” he said Friday. “It’ll make a better story if I make it to the big leagues.”

For now, Odom is headed to the Laredo Broncos of the United League. They got him Tuesday from the Calgary Vipers of the Golden Baseball League for a most unlikely price: 10 Prairie Sticks Maple Bats, double-dipped black, 34-inch, C243 style.

“They just wanted some bats, good bats — maple bats,” Broncos general manager Jose Melendez said.

Heh. Speaking of the Convention, though, you’ll have to wait another day for any real reports. Sorry.